Union calls for action to improve women’s pay

A leading union has called for urgent action to tackle the “chronic” job segregation and undervaluing of the work women do and to close the gender pay gap.

Research for the GMB showed that women employed full-time worked about 92% of the hours worked by men for 75% of their pay.

When the difference in hours was taken into account, the national gender pay gap was 16.4%, although the difference was as high as 22% in London.

The union revealed examples of workplaces with high levels of job segregation and under-valuing of women’s work, including a food factory where most shopfloor workers were women and most managers were men; and a supermarket where most checkout staff were women and the majority of managers and drivers were men.

Debbie Coulter, GMB deputy general secretary, said: “This new GMB analysis of the pay gap proves conclusively that job segregation and the lack of equal pay for work of equal value accounts for the lion’s share of the pay gap.

“Action is needed from employers and throughout the education and skills provision system to end the chronic job segregation and the undervaluing of the work that women do.”